Students seize the US embassy in Tehran

After the oil commission and parliamentary debate rejected the agreement, Razmara’s government withdrew the bill. The dispute moved into 1951, when the nationalization campaign intensified. The...

Iran’s nationalization legislation took effect after Parliament passed the implementation law and the Shah assented. The move challenged the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The dispute...

A covert operation organized by US and British intelligence, with Iranian participants, helped overthrow Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh after the nationalization crisis. Declassified records...

Iran retained formal legal title to oil properties, while an international consortium received long-term operating and exploitation rights over much of the industry. The agreement followed the 1953...

After months of mass protest, strikes, and armed confrontations, Iran’s Supreme Military Council declared neutrality and the remaining monarchical government collapsed. A broad revolutionary...

President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12170, blocking Iranian government and central-bank property under US jurisdiction. The order followed the embassy seizure. It made the rupture materially...

Iraqi forces invaded Iran, beginning a war that lasted until the 1988 ceasefire. The UN had called on both states to refrain from force and settle disputes peacefully. The conflict caused extensive...

The USS Vincennes shot down the Iranian civilian Airbus over the Strait of Hormuz, killing all 290 people aboard. The UN Security Council expressed deep distress and regret and welcomed an ICAO...

The US Congress enacted legislation authorizing sanctions on certain foreign investment in Iran’s petroleum sector. The law extended US pressure beyond direct US-Iran commerce and put third-country...

In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush grouped Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an “axis of evil.” The countries had no unified alliance. The phrase placed Iran inside a US-led...